It's rare for the National League team in a World Series to be disadvantaged in the games it plays at home.
The theory, after all, is that an American League team, which uses a designated hitter throughout most of the year, is forced to sit one of its regulars. But in the case of Kyle Schwarber's miraculous return to the Chicago Cubs lineup during the World Series—he tore his ACL and LCL on April 7 and was ruled out for the season—his team found itself in that AL-like conundrum.
Though Schwarber has been cleared to hit, doctors prohibited him from playing in the ...

HERZLIYA PITUACH, Israel — On Monday night, Dan Shapiro stood outside the American embassy in Tel Aviv and pressed a button that bathed the edifice in pink to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
If Shapiro, who has served as the United States ambassador to Israel since 2011, had a say, the embassy might next be illuminated in blue and red to honor his beloved Chicago Cubs.
"It probably would have to come out of my pocket," Shapiro joked at his home here during the wee hours of Thursday morning while watching a live broadcast of the Cubs' 5–1 win over the Cleveland Indians that ...

If the Chicago Cubs want to be a team of destiny, they better come up with a miracle.
If they don't, a season in which they won 103 games on their way to their first World Series since 1945 could be over as soon as Sunday. The Cleveland Indians lead the series three games to one.
If the advantage feels even bigger than that, it may be because the latest entry in this Fall Classic was a thumping that only Cleveland fans had an easy time watching.
After winning a 1-0 squeaker in Game 4 on Friday, the Indians took Game 5 on ...

Kyle Hendricks might win the National League Cy Young Award. He's MLB's reigning ERA king. By any measure, 2016 has been a very good year for the Chicago Cubs right-hander.
On Friday, he has a chance to cement his breakout season and go from very good to immortal by pitching the Cubbies to the championship brink.
Nothing will be decided in Game 3. But with the series knotted 1-1, it's a pivotal contest. In World Series history, teams with a 2-1 advantage have won it all 56 times and lost just 27 times, per WhoWins.com.
It's a big game symbolically, too. The North ...

CHICAGO — The old girl is dressed to the nines. Wrigley Field, on deck to host her first World Series game Friday night since Oct. 10, 1945, is crackling with energy.
And when the Chicago Cubs take the field to face the Cleveland Indians in Game 3, this shrine of a ballpark, which has produced so many memorable afternoons and, later, evenings, will author a first: An African-American wearing a Cubs uniform will play in a World Series game in Wrigley Field.
The Cubs have not been here since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947.
Which means, well, gasp, yes.
It is ...

The World Series is returning to Chicago's North Side for the first time since 1945. That's the lead storyline ahead of Friday's pivotal Game 3, which is scheduled to be aired at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.
Here's an intriguing subplot: Unlikely Cubs offensive catalyst Kyle Schwarber will be on the bench.
Schwarber was not medically cleared to play the field Thursday, nearly seven months after tearing the ACL and LCL in his left knee, per the Cubs' official Twitter feed.
He served as the designated hitter in the first two games of the World Series, and he did so with distinction.
Specifically, Schwarber ...

The 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians shifts to Wrigley Field for Games 3-5 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and the North Siders will not have the luxury of starting one of their impact players from the first two games.
According to the team's Twitter account, Kyle Schwarber was not medically cleared to play the outfield with the designated-hitter role no longer an option in the National League park:
Schwarber tore his ACL and LCL in April but worked his way back in time to DH in the first two games in Cleveland, which the teams split.
Cubs President of ...

It only feels right that the 2016 World Series is already a back-and-forth affair, considering the history hanging in the balance.
The Cleveland Indians struck first in Game 1 behind a gem from Corey Kluber and dominant bullpen pitching from Andrew Miller and Cody Allen. The Chicago Cubs bounced back in Game 2 after Jake Arrieta took a no-hitter into the sixth inning.
Now Cleveland is three wins away from winning its first title since 1948, while the Cubs are three wins away from shedding their "Lovable Losers" moniker and capturing their first championship since 1908.
With that in mind, here is a ...

CLEVELAND — Don’t worry. Hitting savant Kyle Schwarber isn’t Superman all down the line. In some respects, he’s just like you and me.
Take the private plane that winged him back to the Chicago Cubs on Monday night, his first trip to the majors since the devastating knee injury in early April. OK, so the private plane part might not be like you and me. But the accompanying boredom was.
"It was a long three hours," Schwarber said.
Three hours and a million miles. That’s how long his trip back to the big leagues was this week. Private plane or ...

The postseason of the bullpens ran into an everlasting truth in the first two games of the World Series.
The team with the better starting pitcher still wins most games. And the team with more good starting pitchers has an edge over the team that doesn't have enough.
Officially, this World Series is tied at a win apiece after Wednesday night's 5-1 Chicago Cubs victory in Game 2. Realistically, the Cubs have a significant edge over the Cleveland Indians for the same reason they had a big edge in Game 2.
Overall, their starting pitchers are better.
Maybe you didn't see it in Game 1, because ...